A major Austrian party founded by Nazis is in DC for political meetings

The leader of the Austrian Freedom Party says he met with Trump’s NSA adviser in December.

Heinz-Christian Strache, chairman of the anti-migrant and anti-EU Freedom Party FPOe, smiles as he arrives in a TV studio in the Hofburg in Austria’s capital Vienna Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016. CREDIT: AP Photo/Ronald Zak

An Austrian right-wing party founded by Nazis sent a delegation to Washington, D.C. this week for a series of political discussions.

“There is a series of invitations to talks with interesting political representatives of the United States on the sidelines of the US president’s inauguration on our packed schedule,” Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the Freedom Party, said recently.

The Freedom Party was founded in 1956, and its first leader was a former SS officer. The nationalist, nativist party recently lost domestic elections, albeit by a narrow margin. Norbert Hofer, the party’s presidential candidate, made anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments the core tenets of his campaign.

Strache recently called for “minus immigration” and compared Islam to Nazism. He claimed to have attended a meeting with President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn at Trump Tower in December, though Trump’s team denied the meeting.

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Strache’s itinerary is unclear. His delegation was pictured with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) Thursday evening, though there is no indication whether or not they will be in attendance at the inauguration.